Zoot's Legacy
by Kei Tree
Summary: Captured and freed by Zoot, Sora finds the only people she ever cared about, her friends.


Hay everyone... This is my first Tribe fanfic so be gentle... LOL...   
Umm, I took a few small liberties with the plot structure... Trudy   
spent the first several months of her pregnancy with Zoot and the Locos   
before Bray rescued her. Also, just for your info, Spike wasn't   
murdered... I guess this takes place around the beginning of season two.  
  
Thanks~ Kei  
  
Rated: PG to mild PG-13  
Disclaimers: Standard disclaimers apply  
  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Zoot's Legacy ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
  
Sora's guarded eyes darted around the mall as the line moved   
slowly forward. She prayed, desperately, that Ebony's guards wouldn't   
recognize her. Most of them were new faces but she herself recognized   
a few from her time spent with the Locos. She'd changed a lot since   
then, she wasn't bound in chains for one, but she didn't want a fight,   
not now. She heaved a sigh of relief as she clutched the antidote to   
her breast and sipped it. She didn't make eye contact with the people   
passing it out, a tribe called the Mall Rats. Sora didn't want to be   
noticed, she wanted to slip in and out and be out of the city by   
nightfall.  
  
Fate apparently decided to make her life interesting again   
though. Even as she moved quickly towards the exit two things   
happened at once, she recognized Dal and Ebony recognized her. Sora's   
cup dropped loudly to the ground, the precious antidote spilling   
everywhere as Dal turned, surprised by the noise, and met her familiar   
blue eyes. His own dark gaze widened.  
  
"Sora?" She could see her name, a whisper, pass by his lips,   
before tears obscured her vision. Sora ran, oblivious to the   
attention she was attracting, and met Dal half way in an embrace that   
crushed the breath out of both of them.   
  
"Dal?" she asked as they hugged, "Is it really you?"   
  
"What a coincidence," came an even voice that Sora knew way,   
way too well, "I was just about to ask you the same thing Sora."   
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Sora whirled, arms up, ready to guard herself, to meet Ebony's   
furious, simmering gaze. The Queen of the Locos stared at her and   
Sora was reminded, painfully, of old times. Ebony spat.  
  
"You should be dead." Sora sneered.  
  
"What a coincidence," Sora mimicked mockingly, "I thought the   
same of you." Dal, Dal her almost brother, one of her dearest   
friends, grabbed one arm as he dared to interrupt the exchange between   
the two powerful women. Ebony's guards started to ring around them   
and Sora knew, as she risked a glance to a few startled faces, that   
more than she would have liked remembered who she was.   
  
"Sora, what's going on?" He whispered his question urgently.   
She shook Dal off, her narrowed gaze on Ebony.  
  
"Dal," Sora said quietly, firmly, "Leave. This is old   
business, between Ebony and me. I don't want you to get hurt."   
  
"Sora... I don't understand..."   
  
"Dal, leave. Things are going to get very ugly very fast and   
I can't fight if I know you're here." Ebony took one step closer.  
  
"You can't fight at all," Ebony said coldly as she cracked her   
knuckles slowly. There was a large crowd around them now, with Locos   
at the front. Sora raised her chin high as she looked contemptuously   
down on Ebony.  
  
"I can fight well enough that no one but Zoot could best me.   
I can fight better than you." Several Locos blanched, most in fear of   
their mistresses retaliation to such a statement, a few from the very   
real knowledge that Sora wasn't boasting. She had taken more than   
several Locos egos down a notch, and a black eye, the day she had been   
made a Locos slave. Ebony dropped her arms to her sides, gaze   
calculating.  
  
"Care to try again Sora? Care to be a slave again?" Sora   
snorted.  
  
"I'd die first." Ebony's sneer grew.  
  
"That, my dear Sora, is what I'm counting on." Sora could   
sense, more than see, Ebony getting ready to fight, and she braced   
herself, hoping Dal would make it out before he got hurt, when a   
voice, a commanding voice rang throughout the mall.  
  
"Hold!"   
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Sora didn't look up to see who had spoken until Ebony did.   
When she did she saw a man accompanied by a woman on the stairs that   
led to the upper level of the mall. The man was handsome, handsome in   
a way that was vaguely familiar to her, with feathers in his hair and   
the air of leadership about him. The woman at his side was pale, with   
dark, almost black hair. She seemed confident as she stood by the   
man's side but Sora, Sora was expert at reading people. There was   
unresolved tension in her and the utter confidence masked unsurity.   
  
She felt the full force of the man's amber eyes briefly on her   
before they gravitated towards Ebony. "What's the meaning of this   
Ebony?" The grave eyes flickered to Dal. "Dal?" Ebony's form spoke   
of defiance and Sora rolled her eyes, typical.   
  
"Stay out of this Bray. This isn't your business." The woman   
at the man, Bray's, side glared.   
  
"In this city everything is Bray's business Ebony, remember?   
We're working for peace! Peace doesn't include attacking the people   
who come to us for the antidote." Bray lay a restraining hand on the   
woman's arm.  
  
"Danni," he murmured in a soft tone of reproach. He turned   
back to Ebony but he addressed Dal.  
  
"Dal... Do you have any idea what's going on?" Dal stepped   
forward and grabbed Sora's hand. He cast a worried glance to Ebony   
but then seemed to grow tall before he spoke.  
  
"No Bray, not a clue. I don't know how Ebony is involved but   
I would like you to introduce you to someone. This is Sora, she is   
like a sister to me, and was Amber's best friend."   
  
The mall got deathly silent as Bray flinched at Amber's name.   
Sora's gut wrenched as well. She ignored the people who were pushing   
through the crowd to stand by Bray and Danni or who made their way to   
the circle she and Ebony made. Sora turned to Dal, her face white.  
  
"Dal..." He swallowed and refused to face her. "Was?"   
  
"I... she... Sora I'm so sorry. Amber's dead."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
The tears came then, tears years in the making, but Dal was   
there for her, he held her as the world spun away from her for a   
moment. It was only for a moment though. In this world she couldn't   
give totally into grief, into weakness for long, it'd kill her if she   
wasn't careful. "Come on," Dal said quietly as he held her hand and   
began to guide her towards the stairs. Sora resisted a moment and   
looked at Ebony. The other woman was silent but her triumph, her glee   
over Sora's pain was evident. Sora's mouth hardened, tightened, and   
she dropped Dal's hand to stride to Ebony's side and leave a dark hand   
print on the Queen of the Locos's face with a resounding slap that   
echoed through out the mall.  
  
"This isn't over," Sora hissed. Ebony rubbed her cheek and   
the fury there only barely rivaled Sora's.   
  
"I'd be disappointed if it was," Ebony spat. "I look forward   
to crushing you." Sora didn't dignify the threat with a response.   
She went back to Dal's side and allowed him to lead her blindly up the   
stairs, past staring people who she couldn't see clearly through her   
blinding tears. 


End file.
